Saturday, March 16, 2013

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Today it was about twenty degrees. We got a gallon and a half of milk and about 18 eggs. The milking machine worked much better . I took it apart in the house and looked at it and put it back together. Maybe I got it tighter.
One more sheep seems to be starting to bag up. We called the shearer the other day but are not sure what his plan is.
Nancy Hutchinson came over about 11 am. We had coffee with Abby’s molasses cookies, and then she helped Sally with a project we have going, making a raised bed in the walled garden by the carriage house. That area has a lot of issues with water in the spring and we hope to find that this is effective. I look forward to finally seeing flowers there after years of neglect. Sally is using some of the original 150-year-old maple beams from the carriage house that collapsed a few years ago. The beams were all hand adzed and about 10”x10”. It was interesting to speculate about what the world was like when those trees sprouted.
Sally is about to plant seeds for cream colored marigolds for that area, as well as other flowers. Our mixed heirloom tomato seeds are up and we have sweet peas about to come up too. Abby kept busy cleaning things but she says she didn’t actually do anything. I disagree.
In the afternoon Abby saw a hawk sitting on a ledge above the big barn door, inspecting the chickens. He flew off when he saw her, before he got one.

Sunday, March 17, 2013
Fern gave a gallon and a half of milk, and I found 20 eggs. We found another new nest and Abby pointed out another setting hen that she had permitted two eggs. We don’t want too many baby chicks this early in the year.
I made sourdough waffles this morning. We had them with sour cream that I had set to culture last night along with various home-made jams and local maple syrup.
Max came over after lunch. He brought us a round bale. He had to work a long time chopping ice and digging with the tractor to get the barn door open as there was so much snow frozen in front of it. Abby raced around organizing the trash which he took to the dump for us. He also cut us a couple more beams for the walled garden.
It was quite cold again today, about ten degrees early in the morning though it warmed up some later, and a bitter wind.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Got nearly a gallon and a half, and about eighteen eggs. Maybe they are hiding a nest. Our Banty hen Tiny (daughter of a hen we got from Bernd Heinrich’s mother Hilda) hatched out four tiny eggs today. The babies are colored some black and some orange. Sally tried to give one to the hen who has been sitting for about five weeks, hoping her eggs would hatch at last. She was happy with it but when Sally tried to move her down to a safe house she got confused and pecked the baby, so we had to put it back with Tiny. Later we moved Tiny and her chicks and they are all doing very well.
The cows aren’t that thrilled with their new round bale. Other bales from the same source have been greeted with more enthusiasm. However, they are eating it.
The sheep are doing fine. One called Suzy is definitely bagging up. I was able to feel her udder last night. It isn’t tight by any means but it felt heavier.
Sally hauled manure down to the fruit trees for awhile today. It was snowing so conditions were just right for the sled. After awhile it started snowing and blowing harder and she had to stop. Abby made a run into town for grain for the livestock and movies for us. She said the driving conditions were scary. I was supposed to have gone for an eye appointment today but they called and cancelled as this storm is expected to be quite bad. I am rescheduled for tomorrow but I’m not sure I’ll be able to go then either.
Yesterday Abby made a delicious meal of home reared pork with a cream sauce, served over curly pasta. Today we had it as leftovers with various vegetables added. Sally made a faux mincemeat pie of apples with cranberries and chopped dry fruit. We had it with homemade sour, a great success.

Thursday, March 21, 2013
It snowed hard all day Tuesday. The whole state closed down and my eye appointment was postponed until Wednesday. The driving on Wednesday was OK. Abby drove me. What with nearly an hour and a half each way and 1 ½ hours for the appointment, the day is always consumed. My eyes seem to be in a steady state. I got another shot of Lucentis. I am still tired but this is partly because I have handed over my edited book to Max to work up for the picture insertions. Now I have the blahs.
Sally hauled more manure down to the fruit trees with the cargo sled. She must have hauled 20 loads. Each tree now has a ring of manure around it. Willie trots along behind each load.

I made an interesting observation two days ago on the Spring Equinox. This house is exactly aligned to face the eastern sun on this dry. Upstairs on the first landing the hall banister along the open stair well runs directly back from the east facing window which is above the east facing front door. The sun shines directly in that east window and the bean is exactly along the hand rail. The builders in the early 19th Century when this house was built ofen aligned houses to match the points of the compass. They must have had a good compass or else awaited the Equinox in order to get this one so perfect.

A weasel took two of the Luick pullets. Max wrote:

I feel considerably more relaxed now that I don't have weasel stress. Those animals are such mean killing machines. I had to bend considerable time and resources to the priority of stopping it. As with the previous weasel episode, getting a successful shot off was a matter of timing. I happened to be looking out the upstairs window and saw him humping along in his weasely way through the woods and I ran out with my shotgun. The shot was rather long and he instantly disappeared. I discovered he had gone into one of a series of tunnels he had made through the snow to approach the first coop. I began crushing the tunnel by stamping the snow down until the only place left was under a dead spruce partly buried in the snow. I started pulling the tree up until I glimpsed brown fur and fired through the snow and got him. When I examined his rather fat body I saw the only pellet that hit him from the initial shot went through his lower jaw, so even if had somehow escaped he was done for. “
Now we are waiting for Martin and Amy and the kids to get here. They are on the way to camp. I invited them to stop in for chili but we don’t know when to expect them. The rest of us have eaten. I can vouch for this chili.



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